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Main:Gabby Douglas
Newport News, Virginia, USA |Row 5 title = Height |Row 5 info = 5 ft. 2.5 in. |Row 6 title = Years on National Team |Row 6 info = 2010-2013, 2014-2016 |Row 7 title = Club |Row 7 info = Buckeye Gymnastics; Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute, Excalibur Gymnastics (former) |Row 8 title = Coach(es) |Row 8 info = Kittia Carpenter; Liang Chow (former) |Row 9 title = Current status |Row 9 info = Active |Row 10 title = Twitter |Row 10 info = @gabrielledoug}}Gabrielle "Gabby" Douglas (born 31st December 1995) is an elite artistic gymnast who is a member of the 2012 gold-medal winning American team, also known as the Fierce Five, and is the 2012 Olympic All-Around Champion. She is also the 2016 American Cup Champion and a member of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the team finals at the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In 2010, she moved from Virginia to West Des Moines, Iowa to live with a host family so she could train with Liang Chow. In 2013, she moved to California to be with her family, returned to train with Chow in April 2014, and chose to leave again that July, to train at Buckeye Gymnastics in Ohio. Known as "The Flying Squirrel" for her high-flying release skills on bars, Douglas' trademarks include her light, agile gymnastics, though she has struggled with inconsistency in her career. Douglas made her comeback debut at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, with hopes of eventually vying for a spot on the 2016 Olympic team. She was named to the team in July, officially making her a two-time Olympian. Douglas started gymnastics when she was 6 years old, after her sister Arielle convinced her mother to let her do gymnastics. She went on to earn the 2004 State Championship title in Virginia. Junior Career 2010 Douglas made her debut on the national scene at the 2010 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup, a televised Level 10 meet held in Worcester, Massachusetts, where Douglas placed fourth all-around. Her first elite meet was the 2010 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois, where Douglas placed third on balance beam, 6th on vault and 9th all-around in the junior division. At the 2010 U.S. Junior National Championships, Douglas won the silver medal on balance beam, placed fourth all-around and on vault, and tied for eighth on floor exercise. In the 2010 Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, Douglas won the uneven bars title, and she won a share of the U.S. team gold medal. She also placed fifth all-around. Senior Career 2011 In the 2011 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy during March, Douglas won a share of the U.S. team gold medal. She also placed second on floor, tied for third on beam, and placed fourth in the all-around and on vault. At the 2011 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois, Douglas earned the silver medal on the uneven bars. In St. Paul, Minnesota, at the 2011 National Championships, Douglas tied for third on bars and placed 7th all-around despite having major trouble on balance beam. After two selection camps at the Karolyi Ranch in New Waverly, Texas, Douglas was named to the 2011 U.S. World Championships Team, scheduled for October in Tokyo, Japan. In the preliminary round of competition at the 2011 World Championships, Douglas delivered a strong performance on every event, placing fifth (57.6570) all-around. Nonetheless, because teammates Jordyn Wieber (who placed second) and Alexandra Raisman (who placed fourth) notched higher finishes in the all-around, Douglas was ineligible to compete in the all-around final due to the "two athlete per country" rule. Douglas qualified to the uneven bars final with a sixth-place finish (14.866), with skills including a Tkatchev, a Pak salto and a full-twisting double-back dismount. Her skills on beam included a standing full and a tucked double back dismount. The U.S. team finished the preliminary round in first place (234.253), ahead of Russia (231.062), China (230.370) and Romania (227.228). During the women's team final competition, Douglas contributed to the U.S. effort on uneven bars (14.733), where her skills included a Tkatchev and a tucked full-in dismount. The U.S. won the team gold medal (179.411) over second-place Russia (175.329) and third-place China (172.820). She also made the uneven bars finals where she placed 5th after suffering from an error during her routine. 2012 On March 3, Douglas competed exhibition routines for the American Cup. She debuted an Amanar vault and upgraded her routine on the uneven bars. She was an alternate, so her scores didn't count. However, she outscored every gymnast in the competition, and would have won the title had she not been an alternate. Douglas competed with the American team at the Pacific Rim Championships. The team won the gold medal, and Douglas won the gold on the uneven bars. However, Douglas tweaked her ankle on vault and had to scratch on floor exercise in the team final. Douglas competed at the Secret US Classic in May. She was originally planning to do the all-around, until she had a few bad vaults in podium training the previous day, and chose to scratch on vault and only compete on three events instead. She placed first on uneven bars, seventh on balance beam, and tied for third on floor exercise. Douglas competed the all-around at the Visa Championships. At the end of the first night of competition, she was tied for first with Jordyn Wieber. On day two, she started off rough when she fell on balance beam, but still finished second behind Wieber, missing the top spot by two tenths of a point. She also won the National title on uneven bars, and placed seventh on balance beam and third on floor exercise. At the Olympic Trials, Douglas had a small mistake on uneven bars, leaving her in second place after the first night of competition. But on night two, she rallied and won the competition, securing the only guaranteed spot on the Olympic team. London Olympics During qualifications, Douglas had a good competition apart from an error on floor exercise. The rest of her competition was solid enough to qualify her to the all-around in third place. She also qualified sixth to the uneven bars and third to the balance beam finals. During the team final, Douglas was the only member of the team to compete on all four events. She performed very cleanly, contributing a 15.966 on vault, a 15.200 on bars, a 15.233 on beam, and a 15.066 on floor. Her performances helped the US win their second Olympic team gold medal. In the all-around, Douglas started on vault, where she scored a 15.966, the highest score on vault of the night. She moved to uneven bars, where she scored 15.733, her highest score on uneven bars. She moved on to balance beam, an event that had given her problems in the past, but scored a 15.500, the highest score on beam of the night. Douglas then moved to floor exercise, where she scored a 15.033. She won the gold over Russia's Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina. In the uneven bars final, Douglas performed last. She had an error on one of her pirouettes which resulted in a low score. She finished in eighth place. In the balance beam final, Douglas had a large balance check on one of her skills, then fell on one of her leaps. She finished seventh. Douglas and teammate Aly Raisman joined Shannon Miller as the only Americans to win two gold medals at a single Olympics. Post-Olympics Douglas appeared on Jay Leno, where she said she wanted to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Douglas participated in the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions from September 8 to November 18. She, along with teammates Wieber and Raisman, participated in the Teen Choice Live tour from December 28 to March 3. However, the tour was canceled a few weeks in. Douglas filmed a guest spot on The Vampire Diaries. Her episode, "My Brother's Keeper", aired on November 29. Although Liang Chow said in December that Douglas would not continue to train and instead would take a year off, Douglas said the following February that she would return to train in the spring.Returning to train Douglas returned to Iowa and resumed training in May.back in the gym At the National Championships in August, Douglas was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame with the rest of the Fierce Five. Shortly afterwards, Douglas and her family moved to California, and Douglas continued training, but did not disclose where she trained or who she trained under. 2014 In April, she returned to Iowa to train with Chow.back to Iowa and Chow In June, she attended her first National Team camp in two years, where her progress was praised by National Team coordinator, Marta Karolyi.June camp, Marta's praises In July, Douglas chose to leave Chow again, and moved to Ohio to train at Buckeye Gymnastics.left Chow againBuckeye After attending a National Team training camp in late November, Douglas was added back to the National team.National Team 2015 Douglas returned to competition for the first time since Olympics at the City of Jesolo Trophy. She hit four clean routines to place fourth in the all-around, and helped the U.S. win the team gold. In July, she competed at the U.S. Classic, her first domestic competition since the 2012 Olympic Trials. She won silver in all-around, uneven bars, and floor exercise and balance beam bronze. In August, she competed at the National Championships. She had some trouble on floor exercise after falling out of her turns, but finished fifth in the all-around and fourth on uneven bars. She was named to the American team for the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in October. There, she had a fall on balance beam in qualifications, but still qualified third to the all-around. She contributed on two events to help the Americans defend their team gold medal. Individually, she took silver in the all-around behind teammate Simone Biles and finished fifth on uneven bars. 2016 Douglas started off the season at the American Cup in New Jersey. She posted the highest scores on all events except floor exercise, and won the title with a 60.165 total. Later that month, she competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy, winning team and all-around gold, uneven bars silver, and floor exercise bronze. In June, she only competed two events at the U.S. Classic: uneven bars, where she won bronze, and balance beam, where she placed sixth. She competed all four events at the U.S. National Championships, but had some struggles. She ended up placing fourth in the all-around, fifth on floor, and sixth on bars and beam. She advanced to the Olympic Trials, where she continued to struggle on beam, falling on both days of competition. Despite this, her third placing on uneven bars and consistent performances on the other events led her to be named to the U.S. Olympic team for a second time. She's the first Olympic All-Around Champion to return to the Olympics since Nadia Comaneci. Rio Olympics The Americans competed in the fourth subdivision of qualifications, starting on floor exercise. Douglas went clean on all of her events, despite a step out of bounds on floor. She helped the Americans qualify first and qualified third to the uneven bars final, but was the third-highest American in qualifications, meaning she would not advance to the all-around. She only competed on uneven bars in the team final, helping secure the gold for the Americans. Unfortunately, in the uneven bars final, she had a mistake on one of her pirouettes that left her in seventh place. Medal Count Floor Music 2007-08 - "Hora Presta" by Gilles Apap & the Transylvanian Mountain Boys 2011-12 - "Memories (F**k Me I'm Famous Remix)" by David Guetta featuring KiD CuDi/ "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP 2015 Jesolo - "Devil and Angel" by Maxime Rodriguez/ "Violet" by Mascara 2015-2016 - "Dare (La La La)" by Shakira 2016 - "Cuba 2012 (DJ Rebel Streetdance 2 Remix)" by Latin Formation References